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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Fri Mar 17 15:39:00 EDT 2017

ACS responds to the President’s FY 2018 budget

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2017 — President Donald J. Trump’s announced fiscal year 2018 budget would increase defense spending by $54 billion, taking defense programs up to $639 billion while cutting non-defense programs, including scientific research, to pay for the offset. The American Chemical Society (ACS) finds these potential cuts extremely concerning because robust, sustained and predictable investments in non-defense research have proven to be critical to the nation’s innovation infrastructure, job creation and economic growth.

The proposed budget would upend the Budget Control Act of 2011, which called for over $900 billion in budget cuts over 10 years in exchange for a commensurate increase in the U.S. debt ceiling. A key component of the 2011 law was that the budget cuts were to be applied equally to both defense and non-defense budgets. If the President’s budget is enacted as presented, the $54 billion increase in defense spending will need to be taken from non-defense domestic accounts, including critical science-related budgets.

“ACS will continue to advocate for a strengthening of our national commitment to scientific research supported by key federal agencies such as the Chemical Safety Board, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Institutes of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation,” Executive Director and CEO Thomas Connelly Jr., Ph.D., says. “Sustained, predictable and robust funding is an essential ingredient in boosting our nation’s future in the form of discoveries, processes and knowledge, all of which lead to new products, services, industries and jobs.”

ACS continues to urge the Administration and Congress to work together to establish a truly balanced budgetary and appropriations blueprint to protect our national security and our economy as well as the needed investments in our innovation infrastructure. Such a blueprint would help avoid sudden funding swings that could destabilize our future growth and prosperity.

The Society’s comprehensive policy priorities, individual public policy statements and related materials are available at www.acs.org/policy.

The American Chemical Society is a not-for-profit federally chartered scientific organization.. ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive press releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

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Note: ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.